Shoe-shining foot-rest.



B. BALSER.

SHOE SHINING FOOT REST.

APPLICATION FILED 1UNE4. 1914- Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

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BENJAMIN BALSER, OF DES MOINES, IOWA.

SHOE-SHINING FOOT-REST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 18, 1916.

Application filed June 4, 1914. Serial No. 842,935.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN BALSER, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the city of Des Hoines, in the county of Folk and State ofIowa, have invented a certain new and useful Shoe-Shining Foot- Rest, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a mechanism or contrivance thatwill obviate and avoid all the inconvenience and danger surrounding theoldfashioned vertical and fixed foot rests used in connection with shoeshining chairs. The invention is to operate in such way as to leave thespace immediately in front of the chair unobstructed, thereby permittinga free and easy mounting to and descending from the chair withoutinconvenience and without danger of damage or injuries to the clothing,person or body of the person whose shoes or boots are shined.

A further object of my invention is to provide a mechanism orcontrivance that will render itself adjustable to the varying physicalproportions of the parties whose shoes or boots are shined and therebyavoid the inconvenience to operatorand patron resulting from the fixed,rigid and immovable foot rests.

I attain the objectsabove stated by th mechanism and contrivanceillustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which-',

Figure 1 is a view of the invention looking down upon it from above;Fig. 2 is a side view showing its position with relation to the chair inwhich the patron, customer or party, having his shoes shined, sits; Fig.3 is a cross section of the invention at the point where the pin(hereinafter fully explained) is situated, the cross section having beentaken at the place indicated in Fig. 1 by the arrows.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A is a hexagonal hollow cylinder, lying.

down on one of its long faces, with the lower base B closed and theupper base C open. Through C is inserted a hexagonal solid cylinder D,slightly smaller in diameter than A and fitting snugly inside of Athroughout the whole length thereof. The hollow cylinder A permits thesolid cylinder D to be pushed back and forth inside of A. When D ispushed its entire length throughout and inside of A, the freevend of theformer, E will coincide with C. In other words D may be regarded as thehollowed out portion of A and when D is fully inside of A, the lattermay be considered as a hexagonal solid cylinder.

The free end of D as shown in Fig. 2

bears a two branched support F upon which rests an ordinary sole pieceGr, commonly seen in all shoe shining parlors or establishments, said Gbeing made to conform and lit the ordinary sole of a shoe. An upright H,extends from the upper extremit of D perpendicularly as far as the undersurface of the sole piece G and up against the thickness of the supportF, so as to perinit the support F to slide back and forth inside of I.The uppermost surface of A bears another slit K which commences a smalldistance from B, the closed end of A, as shown in Fig. 1, and extends avarying distance along the length of A, preferably a distance slightlymore than half the length of A. D at its unfree end bears severalgrooves or sockets L, as shown in Fig. 1, bored into it through adistance of about one third its thickness and of a diameter equal to thewidth of the slit K. These grooves and sockets are made to receive andhold a movable pin as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, which pin is of thethickness slightly less than the grooves and sockets L, and the width ofthe slit K, so that it can be inserted through the slit K and into anyof the grooves or sockets L and will project vertically a distance abovethe uppermost surface of A equal to about one-third the perpendicularheight of H.

The hollow cylinder A lying fiat on its undermost surface 0, sets into asemi-hexagonal support or casing N, N N so formed as to receive snuglyand tightly this surface 0 and its two adjacent faces 0 and 0 Thehexagonal supports or casings, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, are placed oneat a slight distance from each of the ends of A and one in the centerthereof. These semi-hexagonal supports N, N N

' protrude on each side beyond the hexagonal supports or casings, asshown in Figs. 1 and 3. The bases bear near each end thereof a hole,which will permit the passing of a screw or bolt through same in orderto fasten the entire mechanism in place.

In Fig. l, D is shown as partly extended out of A; in Fig. 2, the dottedportion represents D also extended but giving a better idea of theworking of the mechanism. The

pin M, being movable and insertible in any ofthe sockets L, enables thebootblack or operator to extend D out of A a varying distance to suithis own pleasure and that of the party whose shoes or boots are beingshined.

The entire mechanism may be placed on the base or platform on which thechair rests, outside of the side legs thereof or be tween the side legsthereof. In Fig. 2, the mechanism is shown as placed outside of the sidelegs of the chair, with the part bearing the foot rest in front.

The mechanism is to be placed so that when it is not in its extendedposition, it will not protrude beyond the base or platform to which itis fastened. By correct use of the mechanism as hereinafter stated theadvantages of my invention will be attained. lVhen no one is occupyingthe chair, D is fully inside of A leaving the entire space in front ofthe chair vacant and unencumbered, thus giving a natural, easy and freeaccess to the chair. When the party sits in the chair to have his shoesshined. the bootblack or operator will then extend D out of A a suitabledistance so that the foot piece G will be in front of the chair andready to receive the foot of the party whose shoes are to be shined.When the shoe shining operation is completed, the bootblack or operatorwill push D inside of A, again leaving the space in front of the chairvacant Gopies of this patent may be obtained for and unencumbered andthus aifording the party whose shoes are shined, a natural, free andeasy manner of stepping down from the chair onto the floor.

The cylinders, D and A, may be circular or polygonal. The advantagegained in using the polygonal shape, such as a hexagon, is that thetwisting and turning of D inside of A is prevented, though in thecircular shape, the pin M should be sufficient to prevent such twistingand turning.

I claim 1. A tubular horizontally mounted base member having a slot atits top which opens through the front end of said member and also havinga second slot at its rear the front wall of which second slot forms astop, a bar slidable in said member, a foot rest secured to the bar andextending up through the front slot, said bar having a series of spacedapertures which register with the rear slot, and a pin for selectiveengagement in any one of the apertures and with the stop.

2. A tubular horizontally mounted base member having a slot at its topwhich opens through the front end of said member and also having asecond slot at its rear thefront wall of which second slot forms a stop,a bar slidable in said member, a foot rest secured to the bar andextending up through the front slot, said bar having a series of spacedapertures which register with the rear slot, a pin for selectiveengagement in any one of the apertures and with the stop, and a verticalmember connected to the bar and extending through the'front slot andengaged with the foot rest to provide a hand grlp.

BENJAMIN BALSER.

Witnesses:

FLoRENoE M. Tom), LEDA MASON.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington,D. G.

